Pronunciation Guide:
- Alannah (a-LANN-a)
-Scàil (SCAW-il)
-Aisling (ASH-ling)
It's a dark and stormy night. I know this because I got off work at eight, and, during the winter months in Portland, it is definitely dark. I know it is stormy because I have to walk home in it. I walk up the stairs to my apartment, trying to rely on the soaking wet railing as little as possible. I touch the door in front of me and count six doors down to J13. As I open the door, I expect my roommate, Ash, to hand me a cup of tea and begin jabbering about her newest boyfriend. The only noise I hear, though, is the sound of running water in the kitchen. And it's cold. Immediately, I can tell something's not right.
"Ash?" I call. I don't move, trying to listen, but I can't even make out a hint of breathing. I count the steps to the kitchen sink under my breath. Maybe she simply got stuck in traffic. It doesn't seem like her to leave the water running, though. I try to twist the handle off, but it doesn't move. I swipe my hand under the facet. There's no water. I stop and listen again. Now the water is running everywhere, all around me. It seems as though it is creeping through every hole in the house and slowly filling it up.
"Ash?" I croak. "Ash, where are you? What's going on?"
The water stops.
I take a step forward.
Swish.
I take another step.
Swish.
Every step I take sounds like I'm walking through a pool. I find my way to the living room and then stand still in the center of it. I continue to listen. Now someone else is walking through the pool that once was my home. The noise is everywhere, but I can feel it pressing in towards me. The sound stops and everything is silent, except for my racing pulse thumping throughout my body. Then I hear a scream.
It is an awful scream. The sound fills the room, pounding in my head. My chest tightens and I nearly scream myself. I clasp a hand over my mouth. Where is Ash? The scream stops, and once again, the invisible terror begins its walk throughout the living room.
Suddenly, there is another noise, a sound so strange that I can't even compare it to something I've heard before. Something tries to open the door to the apartment. I continue to stand in my spot, not sure which unknown assailant I should fear more. There is second noise and the door opens.
"Hello? Anyone in here?" a male with a British accent asks.
"Yes," I answer quietly. He doesn't sound threatening. "Why can't you see me?"
The man is cautious now; I can hear it in his voice, which gets louder as he creeps closer. "Well, the lights are not exactly working. Can you see me?"
"No."
"What's your name?"
"Alannah."
"Alannah, do you know what is going on here?"
A lump of emotion wells in my throat as I reply, "No. My—my roommate is gone and I can hear water but... I don't know where it's coming from. What's happening?"
I can hear the soft movement of his clothing as he reaches down and touches something. There is a buzzing sound and the male beings to speak excitedly. "This is brilliant. You, my dear, have Scàil in your home and we have to get rid of it or die trying, which is wonderful! I've never actually dealt with one face to face. Now a Scàil, as I know you are wondering, is a mutated species of the Vashta Nerada. They are bodies of black liquid that first take out any sort of light source. The Scàil then tries to communicate, which you heard through the scream. The scream, by the way, is what I followed here in case you were wondering. This species communicates through a series of screams and the screams are absorbed by the other Scàils, their way of processing what is being said. Then the other Scàils will reply and communication is carried out so on and so forth. Unfortunately, when you humans see a Scàil, your first reaction is to scream. The Scàil will then simply try to absorb the scream to process it, but in doing so, he completely destroys your lungs. This one has not had proper communication for so long that he has gotten desperate and is trying to force screams out of us. And how do we destroy it? I don't know. Any other questions?"
I pause, trying to grasp everything the man just said. "Why don't you refer to yourself as 'human'?"
"That's all you got out of what I said? I'm a Timelord and I'm called the Doctor. I look like a human but am not human at all."
I nod, slightly, even though I have no idea what he's talking about.
"Now, one advantage of Scàils is that they let off what you might refer to as 'black light,' which is absolutely brilliant," the Doctor continues, pacing. "It gives off just enough light to find your way around once your eyes adjust. Now, if we can just pull enough of the light through, we might be able to… No. That won't work. We couldn't get enough light fast enough." The Scàil screams again, only this time it's louder. I bite my lip, forcing myself to keep from screaming back. The Doctor continues to spurt ideas as he walks around the living room. While he is messing around with his buzzing device and the TV, I hear the Scàil begin to move and I feel a drop of liquid run down my spine. A sudden chill comes over me and the liquid begins to cover my body. I feel the cold fear wrap around my neck and gut, quietly toying with the scream that is building up inside of me. Soon, the fear is so consuming that I want to throw up instead of scream.
"Doctor?" I whimper. Somehow, through the liquid rushing around my ears, I hear him whip around.
"Nononononononononono. No. No. No. Come on," he moans. The buzzing noise spins around me as he continues to mutter nos to the Scàil. The liquid stops moving and a voice seems to speak from inside my head.
"No." The Scàil bites the word out like a command.
The Doctor groans. "Oh no, no, n—" Suddenly, I hear his body drop to the floor and he starts gasping for air. I drop to the floor, frantically searching for him. My hand runs into his side and he yanks me towards him, placing his hands on my temples.
My world explodes.
Colors and images fill me, all of them unfamiliar and new. They are the first things I have ever seen in my life, and colors, objects, and creatures create a new world around me. I don't know what I'm seeing but I can feel the overwhelming emotions within each one. Joy. Terror. Love. Loss. Pain. Sadness. Kindness. Hate. Curiosity. Rage. A darkness begins to soak into the images, and I hold the Doctor's hands tight to my temples. The images come back stronger, but so does the darkness. I can feel it trying to put out the light, trying to blacken my vision once again. The cold and the fear begin to creep back over me. My gut churns as the scream begins to rise into my throat. Just as I open my mouth, I hear the Doctor's voice in my head.
"Don't scream, Alannah. Keep him out. Keep the Scàil out. The images, the light that you've finally seen, it's the only way to break him. Keep the light shining and you can defeat him. Hold on."
The Scàil seems to be clawing its way into my cranium, but instead of giving it a scream, I begin to soak in the memories I see, taking in every aspect of them. The Scàil screams and the sound ricochets off the sides of my skull. My mind never leaves what I'm seeing. The Scàil begins to fill my mouth, forcing its way down my esophagus and into my lungs. Yet even as I suffocate, the memories grow stronger and brighter. Nothing it does can stop me. The Scàil nearly consumes me, but rather than feeling its fear and darkness, I only feel brave. I won't let this monster take lives. I won't let it rule this world.
Suddenly, the images disappear. The colors and emotions all cut to black and nothingness. My heart sinks as the Doctor's hands pull away from my head. He jumps up from underneath me and I hear a quiet gurgling sound, like a water in a creek. I feel the pull of the Scàil as it tries to keep hold on me, trying to defy whatever is pulling it away. After seconds of struggle, the fear and the cold are gone. I stay where I am, wondering what the Doctor did to make it all go away. His hand touches mine and he slips a small, glass container into my hands. The container is heavy and cold, and I feel miserable.
"Thank you for keeping him occupied. You gave me enough time to heal. And in case you're wondering, that is an aisling bottle. Sucked the Scàil right into it. Pretty nifty, huh? Got it on Akatan."
I turn the bottle over in my hands. "What's Akatan?" I ask.
The Doctor pauses, "Tell you what, Alannah. We'll take our Scàil to a deserted planet, a boring planet where he can scream all he wants. Then I'll take you to Akatan, and we'll explore the stars together. What do you say?"
"What about Ash?"
There's another pause. "I'm sure she won't mind."
I bite my lip excitedly. "Okay."
You'll never guess where we are now.